Cachews, Achohol, and Love with a capital L
by redex
Summary: Rei muses over Mariah, gets helped by Kai. There is no mariah-bashing. [oneshot]


Heya. A one-shot with lots of romantic tangles. I'm pretty sure this is staying a one-shot so don't expect any more. And yes, cachews are very very addictive.  
  
Disclaimer: I doesn't own nothin.  
  
~`~,*|*`~,~  
  
Rei sat on the carpeted floor, barely dressed and in a lonely mood. There was a party going on downstairs, but he had gotten out of it, pleading exhaustion. He was still bothered sometimes by the wounds from his battle with Bryan and the doctor said he shouldn't push himself too hard. Well, he had an excuse anyways.  
  
In front of him sat, nestled in the thick red carpeting, a bottle of gin and a rather large bowl of cashews he had nicked from the party. After having two he had become addicted and was now munching them steadily, his fingers finding the whole ones first. They were much more fun to eat.  
  
He had music on too; a sort of random CD Mariah had made for him, and right now she was the centre of his thoughts.  
  
After his reconciliation with the Chinese White Tigers at the Asian tournament he had found himself feeling much more liberated. He hadn't realized it before, but he had been feeling guilty about leaving them. However, when he started explaining his motives to a vengeful Lei, he began convincing himself of the truth of his choice and when his former teammates accepted him again he made his peace within himself. In all his travels afterward he didn't feels nearly as sad or nostalgic as he had been before.  
  
"But," he thought, skipping ahead in his memories' timeline, "that's not what's bothering me."  
  
He was procrastinating, hoping to avoid the real reason he had been so stressed out lately, enough so that Kai had ordered him to go to bed at three in the afternoon yesterday - and he had obeyed.  
  
After his battle with Bryan, Rei had ended up in the hospital. That, everyone knew. They also all knew how Mariah had gone with him to the hospital. What they didn't know, and didn't guess, was what Mariah had told him while he lay in those confining white sheets.  
  
She told him she loved him, with a capital "L".  
  
Now, Rei had nothing against loving Mariah as a sister or a very good friend, but he couldn't handle the thought of being in a serious relationship with her.  
  
After she had confessed her affections, she had waited expectantly for an answer of some kind. Rei had felt helpless.  
  
He didn't have one.  
  
Stirred from his musings by the click signaling the end of the CD, he noticed that almost all the cashews were gone and so was half of the bottle of liquor.  
  
He was wondering hazily where it had all gone when the door knocked. Or, someone knocked on the door. Yes.  
  
Someone, or rather, Kai, came in and looked down at the seated Rei.  
  
"What are you doing?" he asked harshly.  
  
Rei sniffed, the loneliness overcoming him again.  
  
"I don't know," he mumbled.  
  
"Well, I do," Kai said sharply and reached down, grabbing the neck of the open bottle and the bowl.  
  
"How come you asked then...hey!"  
  
Rei tried to stand up to recover his soothing nectar, swayed, and sat back down in a hurry.  
  
"Oof," he complained eyeing the shelf his captain was placing the bottle, but only after pouring a glass for himself.  
  
Kai looked down at Rei for a while, seemingly thinking over his options and then sat down on the floor in front of him, drink in hand.  
  
"How come you get more and I don't?" Rei complained, eyeing the liquid.  
  
"Because I'm not drunk, nor am I planning on it, for tonight," Kai stated, placing the cup on the floor next to him, making sure it was flat. He sat with his back stiff and his arms crossed, studying Rei with a gaze that seemed to burn through its object's skin.  
  
"So, what's wrong?" he finally asked, his frankness making Rei uncomfortable.  
  
"Nothing," the teammate mumbled, toying with the end of his hair.  
  
"Really?" Kai asked, forcing Rei to look him in the eye.  
  
"No," he confessed.  
  
"That's what I thought," Kai said patiently. "Now do you want to tell me about it?"  
  
"No. Yes. I don't know," he sighed, unwrapping the cloth around his hair. "Will you tell anyone?"  
  
Kai sat for a minute thinking it over and then said: "Not unless I really need to."  
  
Rei proceeded to confess all his problems to his surprisingly patient shrink-Capitan.  
  
"And I don't want to crush her by telling her by telling her I don't love her, because I do, but just not in *that* way," he finished sending Kai a pleading look.  
  
The distraught tiger's peer sipped from the glass, brows furrowed. When he finally looked up at Rei, the golden eyes were filling with tears, most likely brought on by exhaustion.  
  
"Rei, you just need to get her alone and explain to her what's wrong. She's not *that* bad, I don't think she'll be too upset. Chances are she'll get over you pretty quickly."  
  
Rei wasn't exactly sure if that last part was an insult or not and stared at Kai. How could the answer be that simple, yet so hard?  
  
"But Kai, he protested, "I can't do that! That's my problem!"  
  
"Yes you can, Rei," the other blader said unaffectedly. "You're one of the bravest people I know. You faced Bryan and ~won~. How can you doubt yourself over something so simple?"  
  
Rei mumbled something incoherent and suddenly flopped onto his back.  
  
"I can't," he said stubbornly.  
  
"Damnnit, Rei!" snapped, standing up over Rei. His cup was empty and his patience for his teammates' weakness was gone as well. "You're just being lazy! If I can have confidence in you, stop being so wallowing in self- pity!"  
  
He bent down and slid his arms under Rei and lifted him easily, seeing that if he left him there he would still be there in the morning. He dumped him unceremoniously onto the bed and gave him a final glare before pulling off his clothes, turning off the lights and slipping into the bed opposite.  
  
Rei had been pretending to be asleep, but really inside his mind was whirling.  
  
Tell her. Just tell her.  
  
Could he do that?  
  
Kai thought he could.  
  
That should be enough.  
  
He silently resolved to figure out the details tomorrow morning and succumbed to the darkness that had been threatening him for the past few minutes.  
  
~`~,*|*`~,~  
  
When Rei finally got up the courage to open his eyes the next morning he regretted it. The spear of light coming in through the drapes caught him in the face and he gave a soft groan. He felt sick and disgusting. The ache in his head didn't feel like it was going to fade away any time soon and he didn't feel like moving.  
  
After a lot of deliberation and thought he finally rolled over with a groan in the direction he was pretty sure the clock was in. He opened his eyes slowly and after a lot of blinking he was surprised to find that it was 10 in the morning. Where was Kai? They were supposed to do things this morning.  
  
He sat up slowly and looked around.  
  
Kai's bed was empty and unmade and the room still smelled faintly of the perfume he had become to associate with his captain. He wasn't sure if it was shampoo or his face-paint or what, but it always smelt good.  
  
He gave the heavy drapes a glare for not closing all the way and heaved himself out of bed. On the counter opposite his bed there was a clean glass of water, a piece of paper with Kai's writing on it and two small white pills.  
  
Rei picked up the note, careful to let the pills slide into his hand and read it slowly.  
  
"Rei,  
  
We left at 8 and I decided not to wake you up, so just wait around for us if we're not back (about 11) before you're up. I got you some painkillers for the headache I'm sure you're suffering from after all that alcohol last night. I hope you take the time you have alone to think over what you should do. Make sure to eat and drink a lot.  
  
Kai"  
  
The tiger smiled softly at Kai's administrations and gulped the pills down with some water and a wince. Hopefully he'd be able to deal with this today, if not then tomorrow. He would talk to Mariah, thank Kai for putting up with him and then try some of those famous pancakes.  
  
~`~,*|*`~,~  
  
Tuhduh! Thanks for reading, now review and tell me what you think. Remember, this is a one-shot and no amount of pleading will bring you another chapter ;) I flatter myself, ne? 


End file.
